Chancellor gives green light to landmark A303 Stonehenge tunnel scheme to end traffic nightmare

0
369

THE HATED A303 road will FINALLY be fixed after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the government’s spending blitz today.

The promise was made as part of a £27billion fund in today’s budget to fix Britain’s roads.

Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, is the site of a major road development

The traffic-plagued A303 will finally be fixed after years of delay and moved into a 1.8 mile dual-carriageway tunnel called the Stonehenge Tunnel. 

It is currently a single carriageway which runs between Basingtoke in Hamphsire and Honiton in Devon past the iconic Stonehenge, connecting the M3 to the A30.

It is one of the main routes from London to South West England.

Plans to fix the road and lay down a two-mile long tunnel were earmarked all the way back in 2014 under David Cameron, and given the green-light three years ago as part of a £2billion project.

Mr Sunak has promised this will be the government that fixes it – giving it a special mention in his landmark budget.

He said: “There’s one more road I want to mention. It’s one of our most important regional arteries.

“It is one of those totemic projects symbolising delay and obstruction. Governments have been trying to fix it since the 1980s.

“Every year, millions of cars crawl along it in traffic. Ruining the backdrop to one of our most important historic landmarks… the A303 – this government’s going to get it done.”

The plan is part of Mr Sunak’s £27billion fund to fix more than 4000 miles of the UK’s roads.

The budget also promised a £30billion fund to help people impacted by the spread of the deadly coronavirus – including those having to self isolate but not yet showing any symptoms.

Duties on spirits, wine and beer were all frozen for the second time running and the Chancellor kept the freeze on fuel duty.

A massive £640billion would be injected into infrastructure, rail and roads.

Rushni Sunak and Budget briefcase
Rushni Sunak delivered his first Budget today